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Edina's Woodward nears scoring record

The Edina boys' basketball season finally has begun to take off, gaining momentum after a sputtering start.

Waylaid by overblown expectations and a rough early-season schedule, the Hornets started 0-4 and had fans scratching their heads.

With eight victories in their past nine games, Edina has averted disaster, largely due to the consistent play of a scoring machine at guard, senior Graham Woodward.

Blessed with an innate court sense, exceptional range on his jump shot and a scorer's ability to create his own shot, the 6-foot Woodward has been consistent even when his team hasn't. He has averaged 27.8 points per game, with a high of 46.

Woodward, who committed to Penn State in November, scored a combined 92 points in victories over Chanhassen, St. Paul Central and Willmar last week. He topped 1,000 career points in a loss to Lakeville North in the second game of the season. He is within 44 points of Edina's career scoring record.

Minnetonka gets stronger

One reason for Minnetonka's emergence on the high school gymnastics scene is the addition of Destiny Cobbs to the roster.

Cobbs, a junior, is competing at the high school level for the first time and has made her presence felt.

She won the all-around title with a score of 36.75 in a narrow dual-meet loss to perennial Lake Conference power Eden Prairie last week, only days after finishing as runner-up on the balance beam at Roseville's MGGOA Invitational on Jan. 5.

"She's been a strong competitor for [us] all season," coach Samantha Howard said.

Not missing a beat

Travel fatigue clearly was not a factor for Blake's Dani Cameranesi.

The senior forward returned from captaining Team USA in the Women's Under-18 World Hockey Championships in Finland late on Jan. 6, and led the Bears to three victories, scoring nine goals and adding seven assists.

Checkal paces Delano

Delano won its first 10 boys' basketball games this season and was 11-1 before Tuesday's Wright County Conference showdown with Waconia.

Senior guard Zach Checkal set the pace, averaging 21.8 points per game. He became the fifth player in school history to top 1,000 career points in Friday's 77-37 rout of Dassel-Cokato.

With this little get-together called the boys&rsquo; hockey state tournament (perhaps you&rsquo;ve heard of it?) at Xcel Energy Center this week, it would be easy to forget that there are some pretty important boys&rsquo; basketball games coming up.